An exploration of online fulfilment centres in omni-channel grocery retail

• Grocery retail is going through a rapid shift and retailers are moving towards omni-channel. Omni-channel means that a retailer has multiple channels in which thecustomer can move seamlessly, with the back-end organised to make this possible.While the grocery-retail sector has started to see a rapid growth in online sales,omni-channel grocery retailers are struggling with profitability in their onlinechannels. For these retailers, efficient logistics and material handling are crucial toachieve profitability. Today, it is common for omni-channel grocery retailers toinvest in an online fulfilment centre (OFC) when volumes are growing. A keycomponent for improving profitability is thus to improve the OFC configuration (i.e.warehouse operations, design, and resource). Despite the important role that an OFCplays for omni-channel performance and profitability, extant research is lacking onhow to configure an OFC in omni-channel grocery retail. Hence, the purpose of thisthesis was to ‘explore how grocery retailers are configuring their OFCs and in whatway they adapt to specific challenges and context’.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Omni-channel

Case study

Grocery retail

Online fulfilment centre

Contextual factors

Distribution centre

Dark store

Warehousing

Publikations- och innehållstyp

lic (ämneskategori)

vet (ämneskategori)